Mounting for face mask



Aug. 2, 1966 D. c. HUMPHREY MOUNTING FOR FACE MASK Filed Sept. 10, 1964 INVENTOR.

- DELBY C HUMPHREY HTTORNE Y5 Unitcd States Patent 3,263,236 MOUNTING FOR FACE MASK Delhy C. Humphrey, 700 Indiana Ave., 'Ierrc Haute, Ind. Filed Sept. 10, 1964, Scr. No. 395,371 8 Claims. (Cl. 29)

This invention relates to football helmets and face guards therefor, and in particular to the attachment of a face guard to a helmet.

A popular type of face guard for a football helmet is one in which metal tubes are formed into a grill-like arrangement and covered with a rubber-like material and then attached to the front of the helmet. This type of face mask provides the maximum in safety to the individual wearing the helmet, but at times has the disadvantage that it can break the material of the helmet, which latter is a relatively hard plastic ntaterial. It appears that the breaking of the helmet comes about principally on account of high localized stresses in the region of attachments of the guard to the helmet because of the stresses that pass through the face guard. then through the helmet into engagement with nuts, such as T-nuts provided in the helmet.

The present invention is concerned with an arrangement for mounting a metal face guard of the nature referred to on a helmet in such a manner that the aforementioned regions of high localized stresses are substantially eliminated, thus protecting the helmet against breakage.

Another object is the provision for an arrangement for connecting a metal grid-like face guard to a football helmet which permits the face guard easily to be mounted on or removed from the helmet.

Still another object of this invention is the provision of a resilient holder or clamp means for clamping the face guard to the helmet so as to provide for at least a small amount of workability of the fac guard on the helmet and a certain amount of resilience to absorb shocks that might be imposed on the face guard so that these shocks do not tend to stress the helmet beyond a permissible amount.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will become more apparent upon reference to the fol lowing specification taken in connection with the accompanying drawings. in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view showing a helmet and face guard combination according to the present invention:

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view in dicatcd by line 2-2 on FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary plan sectional view indicated by line 3-3 on FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary perspective view showing another type of attachingmeans for attaching the face guard to the helmet;

FIGURE 5 is a vertical sectional view'taken on line 5-5 of FIGURE 4, and I FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary sectional view similar to FIGURE 3 but showing a different type of holder for connecting the face guard to the helmet.

Referring to the drawings somewhat more in detail, in FIGURE 1 the helmet is indicated at 10 and the face guard is indicated at 12. The face guard is made up of a plurality of tubular metal members in crisscross relation welded together and covered with a rubber-like plastic material.

The face guard at the top, in the form which is illustrated in FIGURE 1, has an upstanding metal plate 14 welded to the top transverse bar of the face mask and said plate also being covered by the rubber-like plastic material which, in FIGURE 2, is indicated at 16. Plate 14 has spaced therein and receives screws 18 that are threaded 3,263,236 Patented August 2, 1966 into T-nuts 20 having heads on the inside of the helmet and extending through holes drilled in the helmet. There is preferably a rubber-like spacer washer or strap 22 provided between the back of an upstanding plate 14 and the front of the helmet to space the face guard slightly from the helmet not only to provide for a certain degree of resilience in the connection between the face guard and the helmet at the top of the face guard, but also to protect the helmet material from possible chemical reaction with the plastic material covering the face guard.

The face guard at the sides has substantially vertically extending bar portions 24 and these bar portions are received in a U-shaped resilient holder or strap element 26 which may be of ntbber or rubber-like resilient plastic material. Each holder 26 comprises a flexible strap portion 28 that passes around bar 24 and enlarged head portions 30 and 32 at the ends of the strap portion which are brought together as illustrated in FIGURE 3, when the face guard is mounted in place on the helmet. A screw 34 extends through head part 32 into engagement with a T-nut 36 by extending through the wall of the helmet and into the head part 30. The size of the head portions are such that they provide a substantial amount of resilience when the face guard is thrust backwardly on the helmet and thus absorb shocks so that they are exerted with too great an impact on the helmet.

The strap portion 28 is resilient and flexible, and this will pcrntit some considerable latitude of movement of the face mask on the helmet so as further to protect the helmet from being overly stressed by normal shocks and impacts and the like exerted on the face guard.

The resilience of strap 28 also permits the fac guard to be pulled out slightly at the bottom so that the helmet is easier toput on than with rigid connecting of the face guard to the helmet.

In FIGURE 4, I show how clamp strips 40 could be employed which might be of a somewhat resilient nature with the strips being connected to the ltelmct by screws 42 and having hook like ends 44 engaging the bars of the face guard. This arrangement also prevents the direct transmitting of shocks from the face guard into the helmet and provides an easy means of mounting the face guard on the helmet. Upon the application of stress to the face guard beyond an allowable limit, the face guard could snap free from the holders, or break the holders, thus tending to protect not only the helmet and face guard but also the individttal wearing the helmet.

FIGURE 6 shows how a flexible strap element could be employed either at the top or sides of the face guard or both places. to retain the face guard on the helmet with a certain degree of flexibility between the face guard and the'helmet. Strap member 50 is a simple strap having the ends brought together and clamped to the helmet by screw-and nut means 53. Element 50, in particular, will permit some lateral movement of the vertical sides of the face guard relative to the helmet so that some considerable distortion of the face guard can be encountcred without breaking the helmet.

All of the arrangements illustrated and described are particularly characterized in introducing some flexibility in the connection of the face guard to the helmet, and

. eertain ones, particularly the preferred arrangement first described, have the advantage of introducing in addition thereto a certain yieldability in the connections at the side of the face guard and a substantial amount of shock absorption between the face guard and the helmet.

All of the arrangements are relatively inexpensive and are easily applied to conventional helmets and substantially eliminate breakage problems in connection with the helmets.

It -will be understood that this application is susceptible to modification in order to adapt it to different usages and conditions; and accordingly, it is desired to comprc hend such modifications within this invention as may fall within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In combination; a football helmet, a grid-like face mask for the helmet, first means connecting the face mask to the helmet at the top of the mask and providing for at least a small amount of swinging movement of the mask on the helmet toward and away from the helmet, and second means connecting the sides of the face mask to the sides of the helmet and providing for a predetermined small amount of resilience of the face mask on the helmet thereby to inhibit the transmitting of shocks from the mask to the helmet, said second means holding the sides of said face mask to the sides of the helmet and permitting no more than a small amount of movement therebetween, said first and second means forming the sole means of supporting and positioning the mask on the helmet.

2. ln combination; a football helmet, a grid-like face mask for the helmet, first means connecting the top of the mask to the helmet at the front of the helmet, and second means connecting the sides of the mask to the helmet at points on the helmet substantially below the first-mentioned connection of the mask to the helmet, each of said means affording a predetermined amount only of freedom of movement of the mask relative to the helmet and forming the sole means of supporting and positioning said mask on said helmet.

3. In combination; a football helmet and a face mask therefor comprising a grid-like arrangement of metal bars having a rubber-like covering thereon, means connecting the face mask at the top thereof to the front of the helmet and providing for at least a small amount of swinging movement of the mask on the helmet toward and away from the helmet, and resilient means connected to the helmet at the sides thereof engaging bar portions of the mask at the sides thereof substantially below the top of the face mask, said resilient means comprising strap elements passing around said bar portions and in relatively close fitting relation thereto having the ends over-lapping and secured to said helmet.

4. In combination; a football helmet and a face mask therefor comprising a grid-like arrangement of metal bars having a rubber-like covering thereon, means con necting the face mask at the top therefor to the front of the helmet, and resilient means connected to the helmet at the sides thereof engaging bar portions of the mask at the sides thereof substantially below the top of the face mask, said resilient means comprising strap elements passing around said bar portions and having the ends over-lapping and secured to said helmet, each said strap element comprising resilient material and having the ends thereof that are in over-lapping relation thickened thereby to provide a resilient bumper block to absorb shocks imposed on the mask thereby to inhibit breakage of the helmet thereby.

5. In combination; a football helmet and a face mask therefor comprising a grid-like arrangement of metal bars having a rubber-like covering thereon, means connecting the face mask at the top thereof to the front of the helmet, and resilient means connected to the helmet at the sides thereof engaging bar portions of the mask at the sides thereof substantially below the top of the face mask, said resilient means comprising strap elements passing around said bar portions and having the ends over-lapping and secured to said helmet, said over-lapping ends of said strap clement comprising cylindrical postlike portions of substantial size whereby to form a resilient bumper block to absorb shocks imposed on the face mask.

6. In combination; a football helmet comprising at least a shell of hard plastic material, a face mask for the helmet comprising a grid of metal bars having a resilient covering applied thereto, means connecting the face mask to the helmet at the top of the face mask with a predetermined amount of resilience, and resilient strap means secured to the sides of the helmet and passing around side bars of the face mask in relatively closely fitting relation thereto to retain the sides of the face mask connected to the helmet while permitting a predetermined freedom of movement of the face mask on the helmet to inhibit the transmitting of shocks from the face mask into the shell of the helmet.

7. In combination; a football helmet having a hard plastic shell, a face mask for mounting on the helmet comprising a grid-like arrangement of metal tubing having a rubber-like covering thereon, portions of said tub ing extending over the outside of said helmet, and means connecting the face mask to the helmet at the top and sides thereof comprising barlike elements having their one ends secured to the helmet and their other ends extending toward the face mask and having hook-like end portions engaging over said portions of the tubing of said face mask, said bar-like elements having a predetermined amount of resilience for inhibiting the transmitting of shocks from the face mask to the helmet.

8. The combination of claim 2, wherein said grid-like face mask cotnpriscs metal bar portions and said first and second means comprise flexible strap elements passing around said bar portions and having the ends overlapping and secured to said helmet.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,203,564 11/1916 April 2-9 2,715,222 8/1955 Sowle 29 3,113,318 12/1963 Marietta 29 3,139,624 7/1964 Humphrey 29 3,170,164 2/1965 Holder 2-9 FRANK .1. COHEN, Primary Examiner.

I. R. BOLER, Assistant Examiner. 

1. IN COMBINATION; A FOOTBALL HELMET, GRID-LIKE FACE MASK FOR THE HELMET, FIRST MEANS CONNECTING THE FACE MASK TO THE HELMET AT THE TOP OF THE MASK AND PROVIDING FOR AT LEAST A SMALL AMOUNT OF SWINGING MOVEMENT OF THE MASK ON THE HELMET TOWARD AND AWAY FROM THE HELMET, AND SECOND MEANS CONNECTING THE SIDES OF THE FACE MASK TO THE SIDES OF THE HELMET AND PROVIDING FOR A PREDETERMINED SMALL AMOUNT OF RESILIENCE OF THE FACE MASK ON THE HELMET THEREBY TO INHIBIT THE TRANSMITTING OF SHOCKS FROM THE MASK TO THE HELMET, SAID SECOND MEANS HOLDING THE SIDES OF SAID FACE MASK TO THE SIDES OF THE HELMET AND PERMITTING NO MORE THAN A SMALL AMOUNT OF MOVEMENT THEREBETWEEN, SAID FIRST AND SECOND MEANS FORMING THE SOLE MEANS OF SUPPORTING AND POSITIONING THE MASK ON THE HELMET. 